The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors, and more specifically to floating connectors having a first connector portion movably attached to a second connector portion and wherein the first connector portion is capable of movement relative to the second connector portion.
Board-to-board connectors are commonly used to electrically connect a pair of parallel circuit boards together. In some cases, the relative positions of the connected circuit boards deviate from their preset positions. In order to absorb such a positional deviation between the circuit boards, floating-style connectors have been used. Japanese Utility Model Publication (kokoku) No. 07-33408 illustrates one such type of connector.
FIG. 9 is a sectional, perspective view of a conventional floating-type connector. In FIG. 9, the connector includes an outer housing 301 that is attached to a circuit board (not shown). A recess 303 is formed in the outer housing 301, and an inner housing 302 is accommodated in the recess 303 so as to move in the X-, Y-, and Z-axis directions. A stopper frame 306 restricts the movement of the inner housing 302 in the X-axis direction, while the inner walls of the recess 303 restrict the movement of the inner housing 302 in the Y-axis direction; and stopper pieces 304 of the inner housing 302 and upper pieces 305 of the outer housing 301 restrict the movement of the inner housing 302 in the Z-axis direction.
Terminals 308 extend between the outer housing 301 and the inner housing 302. Each terminal 308 is fixed to the outer housing 301 so one end thereof projects exterior of the outer housing 301, and is fixed to the inner housing 302 so that the other end projects into the interior of the inner housing 302. A terminal intermediate portion 309 is formed in a wave-like manner, and elastic deformation of this intermediate portion 309 allows the inner housing 302 to move relative to the outer housing 301. In this manner, the inner housing 302 “floats” in relation to the outer housing 301.
However, in the such a conventional floating-style connector, since the intermediate portion 309 of the terminal 308 is bent merely in a wavy form, the length of the elastically deformable portion may be insufficient and the terminal 308 fails to exhibit high flexibility. Also, since the trough portion of the wavy form abuts a lower corner portion of the inner housing 302, (shown at the end of the arrow in the lower right corner of FIG. 9) the extent of elastic deformation of the terminal 308 is restricted accordingly. As a result, the flexibility of the terminal 308 drops. When many of these type terminals 308 are used in the connector, the inner housing 302 fails to flexibly move relative to the outer housing 301 so that deviation between the circuit boards cannot be fully absorbed.
Since movement in the Z-axis direction is restricted by means of the stopper pieces 304 of the inner housing 302 and the upper pieces 305 of the outer housing 301, upon subjection to a strong force in the Z-axis direction at the time of removal of a counterpart connector, there is risk of the upper pieces 305 of the outer housing 301 being deformed.
The present invention is directed to a floating-style connector that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages.